Jyothi Yarraji, the reigning Asian champion, won gold in her first race of the season, setting a national record in the 60m hurdles at the Elite Indoor Meeting in Nantes, France. Yarraji, 25, smashed her previous national record of 8.12 seconds twice in a couple of hours on Sunday. She ran 8.07 seconds in the heats before improving her mark in the final at the World Athletics Indoor Tour bronze-level tournament at Stadium Pierre-Quinon.
Her timing, however, is still short of the 7.94-second qualifying threshold for the World Indoor Championships, which will be contested in Nanjing, China in March. Yarraji, who received the Arjuna Award lately, won the 60m gold medal at the 2024 Asian Indoor Championships in Tehran, Iran, in 8.12 seconds. She also holds the national outdoor 100m hurdles record (12.78 seconds). She is the current Asian 100m hurdles champion.
Jyothi Yarraji won a silver medal at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games in 12.91 seconds. Meanwhile, Tejas Shirse won bronze in the men’s 60m hurdles with a time of 7.68 seconds. This was Shirse’s second race of the season. On January 19, he achieved a national record of 7.65 seconds at the CMCM Indoor Meeting in Luxembourg. The previous national record for the event. was 7.70 seconds. The qualifying time for the men’s 60m hurdles at the World Athletics Indoor Championships 2025 is 7.57 seconds.
India Celebrates Jyothi Yarraji’s National Record
Taking to Instagram, Yarraji expressed her satisfaction with her performance, stating, “I am really happy to start my season with two personal bests and my 10th and 11th national records here in Nantes, France. The decision to continue training in Stellenbosch instead of returning to India for the Arjuna Award ceremony was tough but vindicated by today’s results. I look forward to running even faster in my next competitions.”
Her brother Suresh said, “She called us last night after the tournament. As a family, we are happy and proud of her achievement. However, this has almost become a tradition for us, as it is not the first time she has brought home a medal. Even when we share the news with our relatives, they have grown to expect that Jyothi will win every time she competes.”
